


Security Check

by Quackyeon



Category: Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe - Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Genre: Best Friends, Established Friendship, Ex-Boyfriends, Future Fic, M/M, good advice, i love these boys too much, in their 30s, neither of them settled down, past is canon compliant, questioning!ari
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-09 07:46:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8882038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Quackyeon/pseuds/Quackyeon
Summary: Dante is glad that Ari is always going to have his back even though they broke up years ago.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Scribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribe/gifts).



> Scribe: I loved all your prompts for this fandom and it took me a while to pick how I was going to do this, but this idea really stood out to me and I loved writing it. I really hope you enjoy reading it. I am sorry it is short - I put so much love into this and ended up deleting and rewriting over and over again. Apparently I am too much of a perfectionist. And have a very Happy Holidays. 
> 
> A huge thank you to Blossom who dealt with me when I was stressing and told me to keep going when I wasn't sure. I love you <3 
> 
> And also to anyone reading this, please enjoy the fic <3

Dante didn’t really know what he was expecting when he opened the door to find Ari standing there with almost a smile on his face. Dante knew it was something to do with meeting his boyfriend and he really hoped that Ari wasn’t going to say anything bad about him. Ari had checked pretty much all of Dante’s boyfriends and Dante had learnt to trust Ari’s judgement. Ari had always know better than he did about if a man was good for him. It seemed like a long time they broke up – but really it had only been ten years. Dante knew that they were better off as friends and not lovers but he still missed the times when they were together. He missed kissing Ari – but then he knew that they were never going to be able to be happy together. Being happy as friends was a lot better than hating each other together. 

“You know I’m getting too old to be doing this.” Ari said with a small sigh stepping into Dante’s house. Dante was working as an artist. Ari loved the other’s art and still felt like he could feel emotions for the pictures and when he could he always chose to buy one. He had a few of Dante’s paintings installed in his house and others were in storage. He liked the art but he loved novels more. He had a beautiful painting of Dante’s installed in the library of his house. He wondered how he’d managed to do quite well for himself, he knew that Dante was always encouraging him and that was something he could never live without. 

Dante sighed a little, “What happened?” He had guessed that this had nothing to do with his new boyfriend – or if it did this was not going to be a good conversation. He just didn’t know if there was going to be a conversation he was going to want to have about that. Ari sighed when he walked into the house and fell back onto the sofa.

“I’m thirty-four and I still can’t even label myself.” Ari sighed and tried his best not to look over at Dante. “I mean what am I? I don’t feel like this is… I’m not gay. I’m not bisexual. I really _really_ like kissing but I can’t…” 

“You do know that is a thing.” Dante said with a smile. “It’s possible to be asexual and that’s great. Ari, you don’t have to do anything you don’t have to do.” 

“Sometimes I don’t think that label fits me either.” Ari looked over at Dante and shrugged. “I mean I can just be without label. I know labels are there so we don’t end up really confused but I just don’t think anything fits me.” Ari smiled a little when Dante took his hand and gave it a little squeeze. This was the only comfort he really could find in this world and Dante knew that. He loved that he provided something for Ari. “I don’t like him either.” 

“I knew you wouldn’t.” Dante said with a small laugh. “I knew he’d be too boring for you.” 

“He’s better than the last one.” Ari said with a smile. “By the time you’re fifty you might be able to find a good man.” Dante shrugged a little. “Plus he was hitting on me and that was a little weird.” Ari shrugged. 

“I know. He told me he hit on you and he said that you were in a mood that day, was something wrong?” Dante couldn’t just leave things, he was really more of a talker rather than someone who would rather just keep quiet about everything. He wanted to know everything and then try to fix the problem. “Is there anything I can do to help you?” 

“No, Dante.” He said with a shake of his head. “I need to face my own demons.” 

“You know your sexuality isn’t a big deal.” Dante sighed a little. He wondered if there was ever going to be a time where Ari wasn’t being haunted by who he loved, how he loved and how he felt about himself. Dante wanted more than anything for his friend to be comfortable in his own skin but there would be no way for this to happen unless Ari did it himself. “Has it been getting worse?” 

“I feel like I don’t fit in. Also my mom keeps telling me that I made a huge mistake breaking up with you.” Ari rolled his eyes, “Oh and I know your parents are giving you the same thing, my mom told me. Like that is going to make a difference, or fix what is broken. We can’t fix us. We can’t fix anything. You can’t find a man and I can’t find anyone – I don’t even know what I’m looking for. I’m not a child anymore Dante.” 

Dante looked at the other, he knew Ari had been keeping everything in for a long time and that he needed to let it all out, but it was still painful to hear. He knew that their parents wished they were still together. Dante’s own father often reminded him that Ari had nearly gotten himself arrested to make someone pay for what they did to Dante. While this was true, this did not make their relationship perfect. “I wish we could be the ones for each other.” He said quietly. 

Ari gave Dante a sad smile. They were not living in regret but there would always be that little amount of pain that was always residual after a break up. Dante sighed and pressed a gentle kiss to Ari’s lips. 

This was how it was. They kissed, occasionally there was a little touching but it never went further and usually only happened when they were both single. “You are with someone.” Ari breathed against Dante’s lips. 

“He’s not… we’re not exclusive right now.” Dante mumbled, kissing Ari again. It was complex and it didn’t make much sense to anyone especially them. They weren’t together because dating wasn’t something they could manage but they were always going to be tied together. They’d always been tied together after the summer where they met at the pool, the sparrow, the car accident, Chicago. When they discovered the universe. The universe that was waiting for them in their arms.


End file.
